Welcome to the first day of the 122nd Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, held this year in Washington, D.C., from today, January 3rd through this Sunday, January 6th. The theme for the 2008 meeting is “Uneven Developments,” and it calls upon historians to reflect on historical processes that have resulted in persistent and dramatic material inequalities, as well as in the uneven impact over time of changing institutions, ideologies, religious and cultural practices, and technologies.

Each morning of the meeting AHA Today will highlight some of the sessions, events, and activities taking place that day.

Today at the Annual Meeting:

• Pre-Meeting Workshop
  Intersection between Teaching and Research in the New Media is an all-day (9:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.) pre-meeting workshop sponsored by the AHA Research Division, the AHA Teaching Division, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. It will be held in the Marriott, Wilson Suite B&C. It includes workshop sessions on theory, practice, and reports of work in progress. And the afternoon will end with a remembrance of Roy Rosenzweig from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m.
• Orientation to the Meeting
  "To Make the Most of the Meeting": Orientation to the Annual Meeting will be especially helpful for graduate students and first-time attendees. Subjects range from the Job Register to sessions for professional development to local arrangements. Check it out at 4 p.m. in the Marriott, Nathan Hale Room, Wardman Towers.
• Advocacy Session
  This special advocacy session, titled Historians, Advocacy, and Public Policy, splits its focus between “Perspectives on One Historian’s Thirty Years with the Congress” and “Effective Advocacy: Strategies and Opportunities.” It’s located in the Marriott, Wilson Suite A from 3 to 5 p.m.
• Presidential Sessions
  Only one presidential session will be held today: Marshall Hodgson’s The Venture of Islam, and it will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Marriott Ballroom Salon 1.
• Film Festival
  Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution traces the development of the Iranian national film industry, which has been closely intertwined with the country’s tumultuous political history. It can be seen at 3 p.m. in Governor’s Ballroom of the Omni hotel. Find information on all of the Annual Meeting’s Film Festival films here.
• Opening of the 122nd Annual Meeting
  The annual opening of the meeting includes the presentation of the fifth Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award and the plenary session: “Searching for the Sounds of the Nation: Music, Race, and National Identities in the United States and Brazil.” AHA President Barbara Weinstein presides over both events.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.